"Let's go!"
Going around the corpse lying at his feet, Kamiya Ki gestured to his junior subordinate.
Just then, another furious shout came from the woods nearby.
"None of you are getting away!"
Along with the furious shout, a dark, spherical object flew out and smashed straight toward Qi Shuang and his companion by the riverbank.
"They got here so fast!"
Kamiya Ki sighed helplessly, then easily dodged the incoming black sphere.
At the same time, two figures rapidly approached from the woods.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
After an intense surge of chakra, a huge orange-red fireball more than three meters in diameter flew out from the woods, still targeting Qi Shuang and his companion on the bank.
Feeling the scorching heat wave and oppressive aura rushing toward them, Kamiya Ki did not dare to be careless. He quickly formed a series of hand seals and poured his chakra into the river beside him.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Just as the fireball was about to hit, a huge wave suddenly surged from the river behind him. It resembled a pale blue bowl that inverted itself over the two of them.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
The orange-red fireball slammed into the blue bowl without any flourish. The blazing heat boiled the river water forming the bowl in an instant, and countless wisps of white steam billowed from the point of contact.
Even inside the giant bowl, Qi Shuang felt the air grow stiflingly hot. Sweat soaked through the back of his shirt before he knew it.
Because of the elemental disadvantage, and because they had lost the advantage of the terrain, the attacker—despite being one level higher than Kamiya Ki—still could not break through the blue bowl in a short time.
If they continued fighting, he would only waste chakra for nothing.
With no other choice, he cut off his chakra flow and dispelled the fireball technique.
Seeing the fireball outside vanish, Kamiya Ki immediately stopped channeling chakra into the Water Formation Wall as well.
The blue bowl resembled a circular curtain, rapidly receding from the tops of their heads toward the edges.
Once they escaped that spherical, steamer-like environment, the scorching air dispersed in all directions. The temperature dropped sharply, and the two immediately felt much cooler.
The scene before them, however, made Qi Shuang grit his teeth.
The ninjutsu clash between Kamiya Ki and the other combatant had not lasted long—only a few breaths—but the outside world was already shrouded in mist, with visibility reduced to less than five meters.
It was not quite as bad as the earlier Mist Technique, but it was not far behind.
"Huh?"
After getting a clear look at the black sphere that had been thrown over earlier, Qi Shuang cried out in surprise.
"What is it?"
Kamiya Ki asked in bewilderment while cautiously staying on guard.
"Teacher Ki, Kamimura is dead too!" he replied solemnly, looking at the black sphere on the ground.
"What?" Kamiya Ki asked, completely baffled.
Qi Shuang pointed at the black sphere by his feet and said seriously, "Teacher Ki, that black sphere they threw earlier was Kamimura's head!"
Hearing this shocking news, Kamiya Ki instinctively turned his head for a look.
Among the black hair and beard caked with dirt, indistinct facial features could be made out. It looked like someone's severed head. Taking a closer look, he realized with a start that the slightly familiar face was Kamimura's.
Without a doubt, Kamimura had been intercepted by Konoha's shinobi on his way back to deliver the message.
This also explained why only two people had caught up with them.
The other two had apparently gone straight ahead to set up an ambush.
Poor Kamimura had ended his life just like that.
Meanwhile, the white steam quickly dispersed. After all, it was not a technique sustained by chakra and could not remain for long.
The two Konoha shinobi seemed extremely confident. Instead of taking the opportunity to launch the first attack, they stood calmly on the other side and curiously sized up Qi Shuang and his companion.
"You two. Very good."
The Konoha shinobi in the lead gave them a slight nod. His tone was utterly flat, impossible to read as either pleased or saddened, and his thoughts were impossible to fathom.
Then he glanced at his companion's corpse on the ground and asked, "Did you kill the other one too?"
"He sank to the bottom to feed the fish!" Qi Shuang replied just as calmly.
As the other side examined them, he examined the two men in return.
Both were very young, apparently around twenty years old.
Although the one in the lead wore an expressionless face, an air of arrogance radiated from him, forming a stark contrast with the companion beside him.
Qi Shuang still remembered that this was the man who had effortlessly killed Natsuki, the Konoha jōnin whom Kamiya Ki feared most.
Now that the two sides were close, he once again tried to sense the other's chakra strength, but he could never find its limits.
Perhaps the gap between a jōnin and a Genin is simply too great, he thought.
As for the man beside him, he had a conspicuous inverted-triangle facial marking. Qi Shuang could barely sense the edge of his chakra strength, which was about the same as Kamiya Ki's.
Clearly, he was a Chunin.
"No wonder I only saw one corpse!" The leading Konoha shinobi suddenly understood.
Then he reached one hand behind his back and slowly drew the short blade strapped there. With a cold laugh, he said, "In that case, you two can go down and feed the fish too!"
"Uchiha?"
At that moment, Qi Shuang noticed a red-and-white fan crest faintly visible on the other's arm near the shoulder and blurted out the word.
It was the clan crest of the famous Uchiha clan of the shinobi world!
"What did you say?" Kamiya Ki's brows immediately drew together when he heard this.
Facing a jōnin-level opponent was already troublesome enough. If that opponent also bore the Uchiha name, the situation became unimaginable.
"Teacher Ki, look carefully. There's a crest on his left arm. That's the Uchiha clan crest!" Qi Shuang said gravely as he stared at the man.
Hearing this, Kamiya Ki focused his eyes and indeed saw the red-and-white fan crest on the man's arm.
That was the Uchiha clan crest!
"Oh?"
The man looked at Qi Shuang in surprise. A rare hint of a smile appeared on his face as he continued, "You little brat, you have quite a sharp eye! Much better than that team leader of yours!"
As he spoke, he cast a teasing glance at Kamiya Ki, leaving Kamiya Ki utterly humiliated.
"As a reward for recognizing me, I've decided to leave your corpse intact. As for feeding the fish, your team leader will be enough!"
"Remember, the one who killed you was an Uchiha of the Uchiha clan—Uchiha Tai!"
Before the words had even finished, he wiped the smile from his face, held the short blade in reverse, and used the Body Flicker Technique to charge in front of Qi Shuang. His arm rose and fell, slashing down at once.
Even Kamiya Ki beside him failed to react in time. The man's blade had already descended.
"He's fast!"
With a cry of surprise, Kamiya Ki finally swung a Kunai across, hoping to force the man back by attacking where he had to defend, denying him the chance to strike a second time.
"Huh?"
Uchiha Tai was somewhat surprised. His blade seemed not to have struck anything solid.
However, he did not continue pressing the attack. He immediately retreated, evading the incoming Kunai.
Before you continue